One thing Cain learned about their proposed new location is that the wars were only a part of the issue. An attack against the Dragons during the great war had mutated many of the weaker reptiles, and left the whole region infested with giant lizards.
The prospect of fighting dinosaurs sounds like great fun to Cain, but it does make placing a Guild House problematic. There's a lot of unclaimed shoreline, much like the Great Desert, so Cain is thinking that a castle fortress along the coast might be a much better option.
They could use it as a trading post, as well as a second Guild Castle, and make money with dockage and ship repair services. One thing he learned from Tortuga is that a good spot that has lots of wood, skilled tradesman and doesn't ask unnecessary questions is a lot to ask for in this world. But it's an amenity that his Guild can provide.
Juan and Manuel headed back the next morning to scout out the location, after being inducted into the Darklight Host. Mary wanted to accompany them for safety, but her mother managed to Guilt Trip her into staying behind.
The Puppet Master had been away from her family for years, living in Munan and hanging out with her best friend Princess Paige. She frequently found them items to trade, or helped them out when money was short, but in her mother's eyes, she did not come back home to visit nearly enough.
Cain learned that Kone had moved to the valley full time, along with Larkin. He was still working to earn forgiveness for peeping at her in the baths, but to Cain it looked a lot more like the young Beast Lord was training him as her servant.
As her species always does, Kone was growing up fast. Not mentally, but physically. She had grown over fifteen centimeters in the past few months, and was looking much more like a young lady than a young girl now.
Her interactions with the smitten Arch Paladin never failed to bring a smile to Cain's face, and he suspected the former prankster was much happier this way, getting all the attention he could ever want from the woman he was madly in love with.
By comparison, Cixelcid and Lickity were the boring couple. Cuddling on the couch, reading to the babies, and sitting up at the top of the Long Fang City Manor's pagoda to watch the sunset together.
They still mostly lived in Sunnybrook, preferring the weather there, but had started gaining levels again, so they were often at the Castle or in Montauk. The maids that Cid Summoned as Lieutenants had long since given up on keeping track of Neffie, assigning that duty to King Aggramor, and instead helped Lickity care for the two children who were growing at a more normal rate.
Both were maturing faster than would be normal for humans, but Lickity did at least get to enjoy their baby phase, and neither were walking or talking yet.
The prospect of dinosaurs was enough to draw the elusive Demon Queen in training away from whatever else had been holding her attention though. Only a few minutes after they were mentioned in Guild Chat, she was in Long Fang Valley with a pair of Guards and a Royal Architect in tow, ready to make plans for a dinosaur hunting Castle.
In the mind of Neffie, horses would become obsolete as Cavalry mounts if she could just capture and train Velociraptors for Knights to ride into battle. They were described as exactly what Cain recalled from his previous life, except possibly even more intelligent.
He wasn't sure that they could by trained as mounts, but he had to admit that the idea did have a certain appeal.
Even the Demon Royal Guards thought the idea was a great one. They didn't think it was possible, but if it was, they agreed to the brilliance of the plan. Mole Dogs used to be a wild predator and they Bonded with the Goblins to become mounts, so it wasn't unthinkable that other species might be the same way with enough effort.
Nobody had actually tried as far as they could tell. The locals viewed them as abominations, or as too dangerous to try to domesticate, so it wasn't something that they would have attempted.
They were in to day four of the party and Castle design planning when the perfect location was found by the exploring sailors. Over sixty Kilometers to the nearest village, with a deep bay protected by a breakwater. The rocky outcrop made the approach by sea a little dangerous, but nothing that couldn't be overcome, and it made the potential port much more appealing that a simple open water shore.
They had Summoned Kraken using [Benevolent Leader] to clear the monsters from the seas in the area, and had set up a good camp to make sure there weren't too many dangerous predators.
Having the summons made things much safer for them, but Cain decided to head out right away bringing only Misha and Cyrene with him, and leaving the Companions behind again to manage the party.
Honestly, Cain was happy that they got to have their own lives. He could call for them at any time, but they were more friends than summons at this point, so letting them enjoy the party just seemed right.
The first stop was Tortuga, where ten Platinum Bars were necessary to buy a pair of Circles that could link Long Fang Valley to the new Castle. Cain was going to have to spend more time in dungeons soon, this level of spending was hard on the budget. Not that they were going to go broke, but they were getting dangerously low on platinum.
It took a couple more portal trips to get to the village closest to his destination, but after that it was just a short flight by Dark Phoenix to where the two Elven sailors said they would be.
From above, it looked perfect. A large clearing between the jungle and the ocean, solid basalt for a base, and that barrier of rocks in the ocean that made a calm spot in the water.
Cain went through Neffie's plans and found one that somewhat worked for the shape of the outcrop where he wanted to build a castle.
A hundred meters wide and three hundred long, it was big, but not too big to defend, and a second ring of wall could easily be placed outside it from steep cliff to cliff, enclosing a village if they wanted.
A stone pier would be raised into the bay, and the sea floor reshaped a little to let ships have more room to maneuver.
